This comes in the wake of renewed violence that erupted in eastern Congo in January, heightening fears of a wider regional conflict.

The agreement has raised hopes for a de-escalation of the crisis.

Each party released its own statement after their respective delegations departed Qatar earlier this week, following more than a week of discussions.

“Both sides affirm their commitment to an immediate cessation of hostilities, reject all forms of hate speech and threats, and call on their communities to uphold these commitments,” the statements read.

According to a joint communiqué, the talks were described as transparent and constructive, though it remains unclear when the next round of negotiations will take place.

The M23 group has seized two major towns in eastern Congo, and the resulting violence has led to the deaths of thousands.

These Qatar-mediated peace efforts follow a high-level meeting last month between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, which was also facilitated by the Gulf nation.

The two leaders called for a ceasefire after their talks.

This latest dialogue appears to be laying the groundwork for direct negotiations between the Congolese government and M23—a group that Kinshasa has long refused to recognize as a legitimate negotiating party, labeling it a terrorist organization.

Rwanda, for its part, has consistently denied supporting the M23 rebels.

Why Is There a Conflict in Congo?

The conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is deeply rooted in regional instability, historical grievances, and competition over natural resources.

The M23 rebel group, composed largely of Tutsi fighters, emerged from the remnants of a previous rebel movement and claims to defend the rights of Congolese Tutsis.

However, the group has been accused of war crimes, including massacres and forced displacement of civilians.

The DRC has long accused neighboring Rwanda of backing M23 as a proxy to exert influence over mineral-rich regions in eastern Congo—a claim Rwanda has repeatedly denied.

The area is home to vast deposits of gold, coltan, and other valuable resources, fueling both internal and external power struggles.

Decades of conflict, weak governance, and a lack of trust between regional powers have made peace elusive.

Now some regional observers say the involvement of international actors like Qatar now brings cautious optimism that diplomacy could replace violence as the primary means of resolving disputes in the region.

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The sanctions come amid an intensifying M23 rebel offensive, which has triggered a mass displacement of civilians into neighboring Burundi.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Treasury Department said Kabarebe, a former army chief, was being sanctioned for his “central role in Rwanda’s support” for the M23 armed group.

“James Kabarebe is central to his country’s support for M23,” the statement emphasized.

Also targeted was Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, a senior figure and spokesperson for the Congo River Alliance—which includes the M23—along with two companies he controls in the United Kingdom and France.

Kingston, a British national born in 1970, is an engineer who previously managed a company in London.

The Treasury Department stressed that the sanctioned individuals and entities were “linked to violence and human rights abuses” in the DRC.

“Today’s action underscores the need for Rwanda to return to negotiations under the Angola-led Luanda Process to achieve a resolution to the conflict in eastern DRC,” the statement read.

Rwanda has not immediately responded to the sanctions.

However, Kigali has consistently denied accusations from the United Nations, the U.S., and several other countries that it provides military support to the M23.

Rwanda, in turn, accuses the DRC of harboring the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an armed group composed of Hutus who participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi.

The DRC government in Kinshasa claims Rwanda harbors “expansionist ambitions” and is exploiting Congolese mineral wealth. A recent UN report revealed that M23 rebels illicitly exported 150 tonnes of coltan to Rwanda in 2024.

Germany summons Rwanda ambassador 

Meanwhile, Germany announced on Thursday that it had summoned the Rwandan ambassador to Berlin in response to the M23’s territorial gains in eastern DRC.

“Backed by Rwanda, the M23 militia continues its offensive in eastern DRC. Rwanda must respect the integrity of the DRC and withdraw its troops,” Germany’s Federal Foreign Office said on the social media platform BlueSky. “We strongly condemn this violation of international law and have summoned the Rwandan ambassador.”

Berlin also urged Kinshasa to engage in dialogue with the M23 while acknowledging Rwanda’s “legitimate security concerns.”

The ongoing violence has resulted in the largest refugee influx into Burundi in 25 years. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported that approximately 30,000 people had fled the DRC into Burundi to escape the fighting.

“People are still pouring in by the thousands every day,” said Brigitte Mukanga-Eno, UNHCR’s representative in Burundi, during a Wednesday press briefing.

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DISPLACED RETURN HOME

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The discussions come as the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized control of Goma, the largest city in eastern DRC, causing what the United Nations has described as “mass panic.” The Congolese government has called the insurgency a “declaration of war,” according to AP.

President Ruto also convened an emergency meeting of the East African Community (EAC) to address regional security concerns, emphasizing the need for a collaborative peace process with both regional and international support.

“I have spoken to President Emmanuel Macron of France on the situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.  He has expressed support for the regional efforts to deal with the challenge,” Ruto shared on X (formerly Twitter).

President Macron reaffirmed France’s commitment to supporting regional interventions and acknowledged Kenya’s role in peace initiatives, not only in DRC but also in Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan.

The capture of Goma by the M23 rebels followed a 48-hour ultimatum for the Congolese army to surrender their weapons.

The group announced the takeover in a statement, urging residents of the city to remain calm.

There has been no immediate response from the DRC government.

At an emergency UN Security Council meeting, the UN’s special representative for Congo highlighted the dire situation, stating, “With the airport shut down and roads blocked in the region’s humanitarian and security hub, we are trapped.”

The M23 offensive in this mineral-rich region poses a significant threat to regional stability and risks exacerbating one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts.

The humanitarian crisis in the area continues to deteriorate, with millions already displaced and further misery looming.

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These attacks killed over 100 civilians and injured hundreds more, violating international humanitarian law and likely constituting war crimes, according to Amnesty International.

Amnesty’s investigation involved interviews with 60 people, visits to several attack sites, and analysis of numerous verified photos, videos, and statements from witnesses and combatants.

The findings revealed that the M23 and Congolese forces repeatedly used inaccurate, ground-launched unguided rockets, including 122mm Grad rockets.

The inherent inaccuracy of these weapons and their deployment in densely populated areas put civilians at extreme risk.

“The shocking rise in the use of explosive weapons is a dangerous escalation in a conflict already marked by human rights violations,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.

“In the wake of intensified fighting, the M23 and Congolese army must stop using rockets, mortars, and other explosives in densely populated areas.

Both sides must adhere to international humanitarian law, taking all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm.”

Bombings by Both Sides

International humanitarian law (IHL) mandates that parties in conflict distinguish between combatants and civilians.

It prohibits indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, requiring all sides to take precautions to avoid harming civilians.

Attacks that result in civilian casualties are considered war crimes.

Explosive weapons with wide-area effects used in civilian zones are likely to have indiscriminate effects and cannot be aimed at specific military targets, as required by IHL.

In recent conflicts, such weapons have caused massive civilian suffering and have been used with blatant disregard for civilian protection.

This has led to 83 member states endorsing the 2022 Political Declaration to strengthen the protection of civilians from the humanitarian consequences of explosive weapons in populated areas.

In DRC, the increased use of explosive ordnance coincided with a large-scale offensive by the M23, which is largely supported by Rwanda’s Defence Force, according to UN reports.

Both sides have escalated attacks, with explosive weapons deployed in civilian areas. Despite a brief ceasefire in late July, fighting resumed heavily in October, including more explosive attacks on civilians.

Amnesty’s research highlighted several bombings that had particularly devastating consequences, underscoring the dangers of using explosive weapons in such environments.

Three attacks alone accounted for more than 50 civilian deaths, more than half of the total casualties.

Attacks Documented by Amnesty:

On 25 January 2024, an artillery round, likely fired by FARDC, hit a house in the Bukama neighborhood of Mweso, North Kivu, killing at least 19 people, including 15 children, and injuring 25 others. No military targets were present in the area at the time.

On 4 March 2024, munitions struck civilians fleeing an M23 assault on Nyanzale town, killing at least 17 and injuring many more.

On 3 May 2024, rockets fired by M23 hit a camp near Goma, killing 18 civilians, including 15 children.

Authorities in both DRC and M23 leaders have yet to respond to Amnesty’s preliminary findings.

“These bombings are continuing to endanger civilians,” said Callamard. “Despite the ceasefire, civilians, especially IDPs living in makeshift camps, remain at grave risk from explosive attacks.”

Stories of Loss and Trauma

Survivors of the attacks shared devastating stories.

John*, a father of seven, recounted the terrifying explosion at the 8ème CEPAC camp, which killed many, including children.

“It was apocalyptic,” he said. Angèle, who lost all four of her daughters, recalled, “They were reduced to ruins and torn bodies.”

Other survivors, displaced by violence, expressed anguish at the ongoing attacks.

“The M23 is killing us, the government is killing us, what have we done to deserve this?” one survivor asked.

The use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas has resulted in a significant rise in casualties and injuries, with hospitals in Goma reporting an increased number of patients treated for explosives-related wounds.

Amnesty called on international bodies to hold the perpetrators accountable, urging the International Criminal Court to investigate these deadly attacks as potential war crimes.

Amnesty also urged governments involved in the conflict to endorse the 2022 Political Declaration on the Protection of Civilians and to ensure that victims receive adequate support.

“Without accountability, violations will continue,” said Callamard. “The M23 and DRC’s army must stop bombing civilians immediately.”

–

All names changed for protection.

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In a July 14 letter reviewed by CPJ, M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka ordered four private broadcasters — Radio Horizon FM, Radio Communautaire de Rutshuru, Radio Alliance, and Radio Racove — to stop carrying the program “Sauti ya Wahami” (Voice of the Displaced) for 60 days in the “interest of consolidating peace, the communion of communities and promoting living together.” Kanyuka also ordered the four stations, the only broadcasters still operating in Rutshuru, to indefinitely cease airing programming from Kinshasa-based Top Congo FM.

“Leaders of the M23 rebel movement in eastern DRC must stop their censorship and immediately lift the latest ban on broadcasting the ‘Sauti ya Wahami’ current affairs show, as well as programming by Top Congo FM radio,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator in New York. “Displaced communities in Rutshuru have the right to receive information from many sources and not only what the rebels want them to hear.”

Four journalists in Rutshuru, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, told CPJ that the M23 rebels were unhappy about reporting on “Sauti ya Wahami,” which focuses in part on the poor conditions faced by civilians and internally displaced people in the area. The daily 10-minute show is produced by journalists who fled to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, on October 31 last year after the M23 takeover of Rutshuru and Kiwanja. The rebels were also unhappy about Top Congo FM’s content on politics and current affairs, including the conflict between the Congolese army and M23, the journalists said. Without the two banned programs, the local broadcasters only run cultural programming such as music and sport coverage.

The M23 rebel movement, active in the eastern Congo for decades, had a major resurgence in 2022 as it escalated attacks on the Congolese army. The fighting, which includes other armed groups, has led to widespread death and displacement. Congolese authorities continue to accuse Rwanda of supporting the M23 rebel group, which Rwanda denies.

Kanyuka’s letter includes an invitation to journalists in Rutshuru to meet rebel leaders on August 10, when the ban on “Sauti ya Wahami” will be reassessed. The letter did not mention a reassessment of the ban on Top Congo FM programming.

According to a report by local press freedom group the African Press Freedom Observatory, “Sauti ya Wahami” and Top Congo FM were previously banned for two months in Rutshuru in February this year.

CPJ called Kanyuka several times for comment but the line was busy; he did not respond to a text.

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Harerimana said most of the women she has assisted were raped while looking for food outside of their camp. She added that she had personally documented 19 cases of sexual assault in the first five months of 2023.

A ‘catastrophic’ number of cases

DRC has long topped lists of neglected humanitarian crises, but the situation has worsened significantly since the M23 – which is led by Congolese Tutsis and claims to be protecting the community against threats – re-emerged after a 10-year hiatus.

Up to 2.3 million people have been displaced in North Kivu since the conflict escalated around March 2022. Vast numbers are clustered around Goma – the provincial capital, and a hub for UN and NGO offices – and across the more remote Masisi territory.

Despite ballooning needs, the World Food Programme (WFP) currently has a funding gap of around $750 million. The agency has reached under a third of the 6.7 million acutely hungry people in the east so far this year.

When interviewed in April and May, displaced people told The New Humanitarian they had only received one distribution of food this year. Though local mutual aid groups are on hand in some camps, women said they have been leaving sites to ask for help in nearby farms or to gather firewood from forests, which they then sell for a small profit.

In recent months, reports of sexual assaults targeting these displaced women have reached a “catastrophic scale”, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which described the problem as a “medical and humanitarian emergency” in a May statement.

MSF said it cared for 674 victims in the last two weeks of April in the Goma area alone, amounting to roughly 48 patients a day in six of the camps where MSF works. The NGO told The New Humanitarian it also treated 123 rape cases in April, from its base in Masisi town.

“The figures are alarming, but we have to consider that many women do not look for healthcare, because they are afraid of being stigmatised by the community,” Alessandra Guidiceandrea, MSF’s head of mission, said from the capital, Kinshasa.

Hunt for food makes women vulnerable

Mwamini*, who is 27, told The New Humanitarian she escaped attacks by the M23 in a rural part of Masisi in January and arrived in Kalinga camp, which is perched on slopes surrounding Masisi town. By early May, she said she still had not received any food aid.

In April, Mwamini left the camp with four other women looking for food. It was early afternoon when about seven armed men appeared, wearing a mix of military uniforms and civilian clothes, Mwamini said. They beat the women with sticks. Two raped her.

Mwamini said she received treatment at an MSF-supported hospital in Masisi town and was also counselled by Harerimana, the camp-appointed protection officer.

A similar story was shared with The New Humanitarian by Kavira*, who fled her village in Masisi in January with her children. The family settled in Mahyutsa camp in the town of Sake, just to the west of Goma.

One day in May, Kavira left her camp to find food. She said she had only planned a short trip, but outside the camp she was attacked by two armed men who demanded sex and threatened her with weapons when she refused.

They covered her mouth, held her down, and raped her, she told The New Humanitarian. “They were tall, they wore uniforms, military uniforms”: This is all Kavira, who is 30, was able to recall.

Traumatised and in pain, she returned to her camp and sought out Picuna Mitutso, another volunteer protection officer who assists displaced women who have been sexually assaulted.

“She was in a bad, bad situation,” Mitutso said. “I stopped all that I was doing and immediately brought her to a nearby hospital.”

Later, Mitutso wrote Kavira’s name in a small notebook. Her handwritten accounts describe how two other women were raped after leaving the camp in March, and another three were raped in April, including a 16-year-old girl.

Continuing conflict

In an email to The New Humanitarian, WFP said it was attempting to “scale up and strengthen” its activities, but did not directly answer written questions about the links between the lack of food aid and sexual violence.

UNICEF says it is providing medical and psychosocial services in four camps in Goma, and has partnered with Heal Africa, a local hospital and foundation, to establish safe spaces for women and girls.

Still, such programmes do not tackle the lack of food and poor living conditions that displaced women blame for forcing them to venture into dangerous areas often multiple times over.

Attempts to resolve the M23 conflict are also falling short. M23 leaders say they will continue to fight until their grievances are heard, but the Congolese government appears unwilling to engage in a political dialogue.

Though an April ceasefire led the M23 to retreat from some of its holdings in Masisi and Rutshuru territories, the group has kept its administrative wing in vacated areas and continues to occupy the trading town of Bunagana, which is on the Ugandan border.

In the absence of reliable assistance for sexual violence survivors, Mitutso, the protection officer in Mahyutsa, said she would like support to open her own meeting space, so she can counsel women who have been assaulted safely and in private.

“I have been trained for this. It is my work.” Mitutso said, explaining that she had previously served as a sexual health adviser in her home village. “My community has chosen me.”

Mwamini, the survivor from Kalinga camp, said she worried about the possibility of future attacks. “I expect that this thing can just happen again,” she said, “I am afraid of going to the field to look for food.”

*Names have been changed to protect identities due to security reasons.

(Source: The New Humanitarian) 

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Amnesty International has urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United Nations, to promptly send investigators to the areas vacated by M23 rebels to carry out thorough investigations.

“Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United Nations, must promptly send investigators to the areas vacated by M23 to carry out thorough investigations into credible allegations of mass rapes and summary killings, to ensure those responsible are brought to justice. This should include all those up in the line of command and any States that may have supported M23,” Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said.

In February, Amnesty International issued an extended press release in which witnesses from these towns described how M23 fighters, which UN reports say are backed by neighboring Rwanda, committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Rape survivors, and others who were attacked, have yet to receive adequate assistance.

Agnès Callamard said: “The DRC authorities and humanitarian agencies must urgently step in and provide medical and other assistance to the survivors of rape and other victims of violations and crimes who have been left without help for months. The DRC authorities must ensure civilians in the area are protected.”

“While M23 rebels may have withdrawn from some areas in North-Kivu province, civilians living in the Beni area, and neighboring Ituri province, continue to be killed by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and other armed groups. The DRC authorities must take urgent measures to stop the killing of civilians in these areas.”

M23 rebels

The March 23 Movement (M23) is the latest in a succession of Rwandan-backed rebel groups that claim to defend the rights of the Congolese Tutsi community.

Launched in 2012 by insurgents from the Congolese army with support from Rwandan and Ugandan authorities according to the UN, the group was militarily defeated in 2013. It re-emerged in November 2021, and very quickly took control of large parts of North Kivu province, committing serious human rights violations in the process and forcing more than 800,000 people to flee their homes.

The group accuses Congolese authorities of persistently failing to dismantle Rwandan Hutu rebels established in eastern DRC in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, as well as other armed groups posing a threat to Congolese Tutsi and hindering the return of thousands of them who are refugees in Rwanda.

Through the East African Community’s Nairobi Process and the International Conference for the Great Lakes’ Luanda Process, regional leaders have urged all armed groups, including M23, to demobilize and resolve their grievances with the DRC authorities through dialogue.

As a result, in January 2023, M23 started withdrawing from certain areas, while still fighting in others. Over the last month M23 seems to have halted its offensive and to have vacated several areas it had occupied, allowing the reopening of key roads and the gradual return of IDPs.

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